How to Install StepMania 5.1.0 Beta2 in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04 | 20.04

Last updated: April 22, 2024

StepMania icon

This quick tutorial shows how to install StepMania 5.1.0 Beta2, free dance and rhythm game, in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 24.04

StepMania is a free dance and rhythm game for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It features 3D graphics, keyboard and “dance pad” support, and an editor for creating your own steps.

If you’re looking for the latest stable StepMania 5.0.12, use the unofficial PPA repository instead.

StepMania 5.0.6 in Ubuntu 14.10

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, you can follow the steps below one by one to install StepMania 5.1.0 Beta 2 via the Flatpak package (runs in sandbox).

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu.

When terminal opens, paste command below and hit run to install flatpak framework:

sudo apt-get install flatpak

2. Add flathub repository, which contains the game flatpak package:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

4. Finally install StepMania via command:

flatpak install flathub com.stepmania.StepMania

Once installed, launch the software from application menu and enjoy (if the app icon is not visible, try log out and back in)!

NOTE: After installation, open “Files” (nautilus file manager), press Ctrl+H to show hidden folders, and navigate to .var/app/com.stepmania.StepMania/.stepmania-5.1, and put songs, themes, etc into relevant sub-folders to install them.

Uninstall:

To remove RetroArch flatpak package, run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall com.stepmania.StepMania

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I'm a freelance blogger who started using Ubuntu in 2007 and wishes to share my experiences and some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers. Please comment to let me know if the tutorial is outdated! And, notify me if you find any typo/grammar/language mistakes. English is not my native language. Contact me via [email protected] Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1 |

8 responses to How to Install StepMania 5.1.0 Beta2 in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04 | 20.04

  1. I got this installed and working with your instructions, but when I added some custom songs the videos wouldn’t play. Songs with background videos would just show a black background, and songs with preview vids would just switch the banner/album art to the theme’s fallback background.

    Checked the usual suspects:
    -Background brightness set to 0%?
    Nope, it’s at 70%. Songs with non-video BG animations and effects display properly.
    -Missing codecs?
    Nope, I installed all the “ugly”/”restricted” codecs, I am able to play those same videos in any standalone video player, they just won’t play in Stepmania.

    I’m a total Linux n00b, so I don’t know if there’s something else obvious that I’m missing. Do the codecs need to be configured so they can be used in programs other than a video player? Or do I need to mess with one of Stepmania’s *.ini files to make the program able to access the video codecs?

    Any help would be much appreciated.

  2. where should I put the songs? Which directory?

  3. Put your folders with songs inside of

    /var/lib/flatpak/app/com.stepmania.StepMania/i386/stable/3b3bcd83163c052f34d92350a6e16d09f3eab33840d8291cf0371603a66b5eb0/files/stepmania-5.1/Songs/

  4. You wrote “Once installed, launch the software from application menu” … which application menu? Can’t find it anywhere… Thx